American Mastodon
The American Mastodon was a large elephant-like mammal that had a coat of thick, dark, indigo hide. It lived in western North America from the late Miocene to the late Pleistocene. The American Mastodon is similar to the Woolly Mammoth, their close cousin, but were slightly bigger and had less fur. It is not as well known as the Woolly Mammoth. In Zoo Tycoon 2 The American Mastodon made its first appearance in the expansion pack Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals. In the game, it is native to the Boreal Forest biome unlike its cousin the Woolly Mammoth (which does not appear in the original game), who lives in the Tundra biome. It requires a lot of space. The player can buy an American Mastodon with $60,000 and requires 4 and half stars to be available for purchase. It prefers to graze from specific foliage like bushes rather than browsing from trees. The only predators it has are the predatory dinosaurs included in the expansion. Diet and Objects The American Mastodon is an herbivore that eats grass, branches, hay and Cycad leaves. It can interact with the painting easel and, like other extinct animals species, it can live very well in the Tundra biome if the Glacier is placed in it. Alternative Biomes Every animal has other biomes besides its main biome that it can be put into. Putting an animal into a different biome, or mixing it with other biomes, will make your zoo more popular. These are ranked by how satisfied the animal is in that biome. The lower the rank, the less satisfied the animal will be in it. Critical biomes are not listed. Satisfied: Tundra Alpine Temperate Forest Interestingly, while the Mastodon still finds the scrub biome critical, it finds it less critical than other biomes, meaning that you may be able to get it down to pressing if you add a glacier . Inaccuracies The Zoo Tycoon 2 American Mastodons have several inaccuracies. Firstly, the overall body shape is more similar to that of the game's Asian Elephant, when in reality Mastodon were longer and more heavily built than modern elephants. In addition, the American Mastodon has long legs more akin to those of a Mammoth, and while it is true that the American Mastodon has a hump, the hump shown on the in-game model is a tiny bit exaggerated in height in comparison to the head; this species of Mastodon normally has a very flat, horizontal back in both the front and back, so the front of the American Mastodon is too noticeably larger than the rear. With this in mind, the only proper similarities to an American Mastodon in the in-game depiction are the more straight, barely curved tusks, and how the animal lives in the Boreal Forest biome. Trivia * A popular misconception regarding the difference between a Mastodon and Mammoth is that it involves the shape of their tusks; even the American mastodon is described as having curved types of tusks in real life. Media American Mastodon-0.jpg|Screenshot of an American Mastodon on lower graphical settings. American mastodon (Male).png|Male American Mastodon drinking from a dish at maxed graphical settings. Category:Extinct Animals animals Category:Boreal forest animals Category:Extinct animals Category:Herbivores Category:Prehistoric mammals Category:Mammals Category:Animals Category:Elephants Category:North American animals Category:American Animals Category:Cenozoic animals Category:Ice Age Animals Category:Afrotherians